Through an Oversight in Planning

Through an oversight in planning, we had a slow start in Swaziland by arriving on Easter Weekend. The normally-quick border crossing took over 2 hours because of all the Easter travellers, and then the students were away for two days of holidays as well. But the lull in the action gave us time to set up some equipment and get ourselves prepared for the training sessions. Here is an account of our first week from one of our volunteers, Phil Cote:

Our first week has been a great one. We arrived here on Friday night, Saturday we began by helping install a new tire machine and balancer and training one of the guys on how to properly use it. Sunday we were able to see an awesome Easter play put on by some young children that live at Project Canaan, and their teachers. I also got a tour of the amazing facilities here. Monday and through the rest of the week we began training 3 - 4 more guys. It has been an awesome experience for me. The guys are learning fast and I have been learning a lot from them also. We have been fixing everything from little Suzuki sidekicks to big 2 ton box trucks. It has been so cool to be able to use the skills I have been blessed with and share them with others. Mercy Tech Mission is a great organization to work with, and I encourage anyone in the trades to check them out. – Phil Cote, 2017 Volunteer Instructor, Automotive Mechanics

As we look at week 2, we will be joined by volunteers Prosper Fernando from Mozambique and Justin Taylor from Ontario, Canada. The pace is picking up and we anticipate some awesome days of connecting with our students as we share knowledge and ideas. Thanks for tracking with us and we’ll be back soon with more of Swaziland 2017!